Emperor Trump Has No Clothes...

[TJ347]

Three things... One which has already been said, but which you seem to have missed.

1. We do not have a democracy in the United States; we have a republic.

2. A company controlled democratically by its shareholders as you suggest would be bankrupt early. For example, just because I'm an investor doesn't mean I have the slightest clue whether Verizon should focus on this emerging telecommunications technology or the other, and this is going to hold true for of the overwhelming majority of investors. This is why corporate executives exist, and so long as the company is under good stewardship and dividends are as expected, shareholders don't care what a CEO is making.

3. Concern for the well-being of a nation, financial or otherwise, is not the concern of any multi-national company. The concern is profit, and that will never change so long as we have a capitalist system.

[robertlouis]

We do not have a democracy in the United States; we have a republic.

Well, well.

No further questions, your honour.

[TJ347]

Well, well.

No further questions, your honour.

Well, here in the US a lot of people don't seem to understand the difference, and there most certainly is one. I consider myself fortunate that this isn't a democracy, as the thought of people responsible for Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga having a career also making major policy decisions for this country scares me almost to death.

[trish]

So in your just world Bieber and Gaga wouldn't have careers? So much for the concept of free enterprise and capitalism. And you guys call liberals elitist!

[TJ347]

Liberals have just worlds, remember? We envision something more along the lines of the Death Star.

[robertlouis]

Liberals have just worlds, remember? We envision something more along the lines of the Death Star.

You pinko commie lol!

[TJ347]

You pinko commie lol!

Enough. Let's all come together...

[Stavros]

When the board of, say, GM get together, well, that's a conspiracy. Meaning: scheme or plot.

Ben, I am not an uncritical admirer of corporations, and I do think that the decisions they make should be the focus of public scrutiny -and mostly, they are, or through the politics of regulation and accountability, can be. As TJ said, decision-making is made in secret because that is how corporations work -would Apple have a competitive edge over its rivals in new gizmos if their competitors knew from the off what it was? And it is competition that creates the need for secrecy -you as a consumer have the choice to buy or not to buy, and if you think one company has a monopoly then politics is there to break it up. The modern corporation did not exist when Adam Smith was writing, and government was much smaller than it is today, with fewer levers of intervention in the economy. Small shareholders admittedly dont make much difference at Annual General Meetings because the votes are held by the huge institutional investors, mostly pension funds, but Boards do take notice when shareholders get upset, because Reputation is also part of shareholder value. In banking, there is always an element of risk, no sane banker wants to see his or her own insitution collapse, but risk is that element in capitalism which doesn't exist in a socialist, planned economy where no room for failure is left out -but you actually need failure sometimes to remind people we are only human. I would rather read your specific complaints about a specific corporation or business, than some blanket conspiracy theory based on nothing. For example, did certain corporations benefit from the coup on Chile in 1973 and were they 'involved'? If the Arctic is going to be the next major oil and gas province, should American companies get their 'fair share', leave it to the Russians and the Chinese, or should there be a ban on all operations in the Arctic? I think these are more interesting and important questions.

[Ben]

In order for markets &/or capitalism to work, well, you need informed/educated/enlightened consumers (knowledgeable economic actors, if ya like) making rational choices.
But corporations try to undercut/thwart/undermine markets. They want uninformed consumers making irrational choices. I mean, just turn on your television set. Watch a commercial. I mean, are they telling ya anything about the product? Again, that's an inherent market inefficiency.

[hippifried]

Well, here in the US a lot of people don't seem to understand the difference, and there most certainly is one. I consider myself fortunate that this isn't a democracy, as the thought of people responsible for Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga having a career also making major policy decisions for this country scares me almost to death.

Everybody knows the difference & nobody's advocating Athenian democracy. It's a bullshit claim. What makes this a democracy is that everything uses the democratic process, from choosing our representative government to what shows up in the grocery store. There's a lot more to it than cookie cutter ancient simplistic definitions that try to put everything in some kind of political or ideological context. Democracy isn't necessary for the existence of a republic, but the process is necessary for a free society.